Dont smoke. Dont become obese or diabetic. Keep your blood pressure under control. And exercise regularly, about two to four times weekly.

Do all the above and youll have a more than 50% chance of living into your 90s. Those are the findings of a newly published 25-year-long study from Harvard Universitys Brigham and Womens Hospital.*

In the early 1980s, the researchers began following a group of 2,357 men who at the time were in their early 70s. Forty-one percent of the men lived to be 90 and older.

Those men who in their early 70s did not smoke, werent obese, had normal blood pressure, were diabetes-free, and exercised regularly had a 54% chance of living at least another 20 years.

But among men in their early 70s who smoked, were obese, had hypertension and diabetes, and were not physically active, a mere 4% reached age 90.

Whats more, the men with the healthy habits not only enjoyed a longer life; they enjoyed a much better quality of life. Compared to their shorter-lived peers, they had better physical function and better mental well-being, reported lead author Dr. Laurel Yates and colleagues. Nearly 70% rated their late-life health as excellent or very good.

This study suggests that adherence to sound medical management and lifestyle management pays enormous dividends, wrote Dr. William J. Hall of the University of Rochester School of Medicine in an editorial accompanying the study.